Bill would limit Gulf fish farming appeal

Proposed legislation could make the Gulf of Mexico less appealing for the nation's first commercial offshore fish farms. Legislation proposed by Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., would be illegal to use oil or natural gas platforms for fish farming operations. Many consider the presence of 4,000 such platforms the Gulf's primary advantage as an aquaculture destination. Proponents have touted them as perfect workstations. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 12/31/09)

Coastal resource center ceremony slated

A grand opening ceremony will be held Monday in Jackson County, Miss., for the new $9 million, 20,000-square-foot Grand Bay Coastal Resources Center. It serves as headquarters for the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in the Pecan community of southeast Jackson County. The building includes a public interpretative area, office space, laboratories, classrooms and a dormitory and will be shared by the reserve and Grand Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The dedication coincides with the 10th anniversary of the reserve, which includes more than 18,000 acres of estuarine and upland habitat for purposes of scientific research and observation, education and stewardship. (Source: Mississippi Press, 12/05/09)

MSU picks research VP

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- A veteran Mississippi State faculty member and research scientist has been chosen as vice president for research and economic development at MSU. David R. Shaw assumes his new duties Jan. 1, pending approval by the board of trustees, State Institutions of Higher Learning. He succeeds Kirk Schulz, who left MSU to become president of Kansas State University. Shaw played a key role in the creation of several cross-disciplinary research centers that focus on the applications of remote sensing technology to resource management. Most recently, Shaw spearheaded formation of the NOAA-funded Northern Gulf Institute, a collaborative effort with Louisiana State and Florida State universities, University of Southern Mississippi, and the Dauphin Island Sea Laboratory in Alabama. NGI's program office is at Stennis Space Center. It focuses its research efforts on ecosystem management, coastal hazards and mitigation, and climate assessment and modeling. (Source: Starkville Daily News, 12/02/09)

New artificial reef in place

The 176-foot-long Great Wicomico is now an artificial reef about 13 miles south of Mississippi's Horn Island in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship entered service in 1945 and became part of the Omega Protein fishing fleet in 1960. Omega Protein, which operates a pogy fishing fleet out of Moss Point, Miss., donated the ship for the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources Artificial Reef Bureau. Artificial reefs create habitats for sea life. Mississippi's artificial reef program began in 1999. (Source: Mississippi Press, 11/25/09)

NMOC gets new commander

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – The Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command has a new commander. Rear Adm. Jonathan W. White relieved Rear Adm. David W. Titley in a change-of-command ceremony Friday. Titley, who served as NMOC commander since December 2007, was assigned to be the Oceanographer and Navigator of the Navy in April. White was chosen in September as to replace Titley as head of NMOC. White most recently served as chief of staff. He’s been in the Navy for 26 years. (Source: Sun Herald, 11/16/09)

GCRL releases seatrout

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. – The Gulf Coast Research Laboratory released 16,000 tagged hatchery-raised seatrout this week into the wild at two Bay St. Louis locations. The Seatrout Population Enhancement Cooperative program is designed to enhance the seatrout population. The fish released Thursday are among the first to be raised in the new Marine Aquaculture Visitors' Pavilion at GCRL’s Cedar Point site. The laboratory is developing a similar program for red snapper. (Source: Mississippi Press, 11/13/09)

NOAA slates dedication, commissioning

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - NOAA officials will commission the Pisces, the agency’s newest and most advanced fisheries survey vessel, and dedicate the agency’s new fisheries laboratory Friday. The recently completed NOAA laboratory replaces the facility that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The ship and laboratory will support fisheries research in the Gulf of Mexico, southeastern United States, and Caribbean. (Source: Sun Herald, 10/03/09)

Marine scientiests gather in Biloxi

BILOXI, Miss. - Marine scientists and researchers are meeting in Biloxi this week for the Oceans '09 conference at the coliseum convention center. They're sharing information about ongoing projects and networking with colleagues. South Mississippi has a lot of activity in marine science issues, including the work at Stennis Space Center and the Gulf Coast Research Lab. (Source: WLOX-TV, 10/27/09)

Asian tiger shrimp reported in coastal waters

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. - Scientists at The University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory are keeping watch for Asian tiger shrimp in coastal waters and are asking local shrimpers to do the same. Within the last month, several have been caught in local waters. The potentially invasive, large shrimp are aggressive toward other shrimp. “These shrimp are in competition for resources needed by our native species and they also carry diseases that can affect both shrimp and crabs,” said Harriet Perry, director of the Center for Fisheries Research and Development at GCRL. “We’ve been aware for some time that these shrimp have been periodically taken in trawls in waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico, but these are the first specimens captured in Mississippi waters,” Perry said. The primary concern is the potential transfer of viral diseases to native shrimp. (Source: USM, 10/22/09)

USM program gets donation

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - The Department of Marine Science at The University of Southern Mississippi received a donation of Fledermaus 3D visualization and software licenses from Interactive Visualization Systems for a third consecutive year. The licenses, nearly a $200,000 value, are to be used by the university’s hydrographic science graduate degree program, one of a select group of internationally recognized accredited hydrographic training programs. (Source: USM, 10/21/09)

GCRL site for ocean policy task force

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. - The Gulf Coast Research Laboratory will serve as one of four satellite access sites for a video conference by a federal task force charged with helping recommend a national policy on oceans, coasts and Great Lakes issues. The meeting of the Gulf Coast Regional Ocean Policy Task Force is Monday from 3:30 to 7 p.m., and will be broadcast live from the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans. Other satellite locations are at Dauphin Island, Ala.; Corpus Christi, Texas; and St. Petersburg, Fla. The group will hold six meetings across the United States before drafting an ocean policy plan by December. An interim report last month noted the need to address issues such as overfishing, wetlands loss and nutrient pollution in rivers that leads to problems such as the Gulf of Mexico's perennial "dead zone." (Sources: Mississippi Press, 10/18/09; New Orleans Times-Picayune, 10/16/09)

White to head oceanography command

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead announced Friday that Rear Adm. (lower half) Jonathan W. White will be assigned as commander of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command at John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss. White is currently serving as chief of staff of the command. (Source: DefenseLink, 10/16/09) Note: NASA's Stennis Space Center is best known for testing the space agency's rockets, but the Navy is the single largest tenant at the center in South Mississippi. In addition to the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, it's also home to the Naval Oceanographic Office, a Naval Research Laboratory detachment and special warfare operations.

Giant squid found in Gulf of Mexico

Scientists from NOAA’s Fisheries Service captured a giant squid while conducting research off the Louisiana coast. This is only the second known giant squid obtained from the Gulf of Mexico. The first was collected in 1954. The squid, just over 19 and a half feet long and 103 pounds, was collected on July 30, during a 60-day scientific study by NOAA’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center and the Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service. The scientists were aboard the NOAA research vessel Gordon Gunter when the squid was caught in a trawl at a depth of more than 1,500 feet. (Source: NOAA, 09/21/09)

Gulf fish farm proposal inches closer

Large-scale commercial fish farming in the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico is now a step closer. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday declined to block the plan, despite concerns from some fishing and environmental advocates. That paves the way for the region to be the first to develop open-ocean aquaculture in federal waters. The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council earlier this year approved a plan to allow production of native fish, such as snapper and grouper, in underwater cages and pens. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 09/04/09)

Burge retiring from USM

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Cecil Burge is retiring as the University of Southern Mississippi's vice president of research and economic development, effective Dec. 31. A national search for a successor will begin later this fall. Burge has been with Southern Miss for nearly 40 years. During his tenure, external funding topped $100 million for the first time in school history in fiscal year 2007, including more than $40 million in marine aquaculture research. (Source: Hattiesburg American, 09/03/09)

Mobile manatee study launched

MOBILE, Ala. - Up to two dozen manatees make their summer homes in Mobile Bay and the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, and researchers want fishermen, boaters and beachgoers to help find them this week. Over the next few days, Dauphin Island Sea Lab scientists will be joined by about six Florida experts as they scour the area in an airplane, three boats and on foot to look for manatees. The effort is part of the Mobile Manatee Sighting Network's ongoing study of Alabama's seasonal manatee population, which scientists say has increased. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 08/18/09)

New GCRL lab to open in March

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. – A new 5,260 square-foot red snapper lab at the Cedar Point site of the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory will be finished by March 2010, allowing lab workers to abandon a temporary wooden structure. The red snapper facility, which received a $1.3 million National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration grant, is one of several coming to the University of Southern Mississippi's Ocean Springs facility. (Source: Mississippi Press, 08/17/09)

Raytheon to review hydrographic course

Raytheon has been awarded a task order to develop and support recertification of curricula through the Naval Education and Training Professional Development and Technology Center in Pensacola, Fla. It was issued under an existing Navy contract. The performance period is to March 31, 2010. Raytheon will review and revise existing course curricula for the education of junior officers and foreign navies in the essentials of hydrographic science. (Source: Raytheon via PRNewswire, 08/05/09)

Contract: Sauer, $7M

Sauer Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., is being awarded $7,021,100 under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract for the design and construction to renovate three facilities at Stennis Space Center, Miss., including building 3205 and a new stand-alone buoy blast & paint facility for the National Data Buoy Center. Work is expected to be completed by January 2011. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast, Jacksonville, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 07/09/09)

Nanoparticle aquatic impact studied

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. – A Gulf Coast Research Laboratory scientist is studying the possible toxic effects of nanoparticles on aquatic life. Robert "Joe" Griffitt, an assistant professor, is investigating a world measured in billionths of a meter. Nanotechnology is a fast-growing segment of the high-tech economy, but there are concerns about the health effect on aquatic life. Griffitt’s research will provide a better understanding. (Source: Mississippi Press, 07/09/09)

Whale shark focus of expedition

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. – Biologists from the University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Lab took to the water recently to get a closer look at whale sharks, which gather by the hundreds in June and July within 30 miles of the coast. The crew of researchers and volunteers spent last week on their first whale shark fact-finding expedition to learn more about the fish. (Source: Sun Herald, Mississippi Press, 06/17/09)

Taylor, others oppose fish farms

Rep. Gene Taylor and 36 other lawmakers asked the Department of Commerce to reject a plan to allow fish farms in the Gulf of Mexico. The lawmakers, citing environmental concerns, wrote to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke in opposition to a Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council plan. The council, with representatives from Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana, Florida and Alabama, approved the plan in January following months of debate. (Source: Sun Herald, 06/15/09)

USM to upgrade data center

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – The University of Southern Mississippi awarded Dell, Inc. to upgrade the Data Center for the Department of Marine Science at the Stennis Space Center Teaching and Research Site. The upgrade includes equipment racks that will house a high performance computing cluster of multiple blade servers and up to 27 terabytes of storage. (Source: University of Southern Mississippi, 06/09/09)

Navy building dedicated

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. — The Naval Oceanographic Office has dedicate a new ocean sciences building that consolidates many of the agency’s operations. The $47.1 million building includes 171,600 square feet of space and is within walking distance of NAVOCEANO’s headquarters. NAVOCEANO’s Stennis operation employs about 1,000 Navy and civilian workers. The command operates a fleet of survey ships that map ocean bottoms and collect other data to support Department of Defense operations. (Source: Sun Herald, 05/27/09)

GCRL opens new facility

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. - The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Lab will soon open a new facility, the Marine Environmental Research Laboratory, at Cedar Point to study marine animals and their environment. About a dozen buildings are under construction or finished at the 200-acre site near the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Dr. Jeff Lotz, chairman of the Department of Coastal Sciences at GCRL, expects a ribbon-cutting in the fall. (Source: The Sun Herald, 04/20/09)

NSF, Navy data on Google Earth

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - The Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command here and the National Science Foundation have entered agreements with Google to provide data for the popular program. According to NSF, a new feature called "Oceans in Google Earth" enables users to dive beneath the surface of the sea and explore oceans. It includes videos, photos, diagrams and texts that illustrate glacial, geological and ocean processes influencing the behavior of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in Antarctica. The Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command entered a cooperative research agreement to share with Google unclassified information about oceans. The CRADA allows Google to use unclassified bathymetric data sets and sea surface temperatures from the Naval Oceanographic Office as well as meteorological data from Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center, both subordinate commands of NMOC. (Sources: NSF, NNS, 02/02/09)

Panel OKs offshore fish farms

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. - A federal panel approved the nation’s first offshore fishing farming industry Wednesday and will send the package to the Secretary of Commerce for final approval. The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council voted 11-5. The vote came after a meeting where the council heard from proponents and opponents. Under the plan, fish will be raised in offshore pens far out in the Gulf of Mexico. (Source: The Sun Herald, 01/28/09)

Offshore pens vote nears

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. - Fishery officials are expected to decide next week on a proposal for a new industry that would raise fish in offshore pens far out in the Gulf of Mexico. The plan would permit as many as 20 aquaculture operations to raise fish now available only by catching them in the wild. The decision by the Tampa-based Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council has sparked controversy among academics, sportsmen, scientists, fishing industry groups, and others. (Source: Sun Herald, 01/23/09)

Researchers look for manatee

MOBILE, Ala. - Dauphin Island Sea Lab researchers searched unsuccessfully Monday for a manatee seen over the weekend in a Satsuma creek. Scientsts said they'll continue searching the area this week. The Sea Lab and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in 2007 launched a manatee sighting network to gather scientific data on manatees in the Mobile Bay area. More than 100 sightings were reported in Alabama waters last year, Sea Lab officials said. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 01/06/09)